Kurdish political prisoner Zeinab Jalalian who has been imprisoned for nearly 12 years, continues to be denied specialist medical treatment despite suffering from serious health issues, according to her father Ali Jalalian.
Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) has not allowed a short furlough on medical grounds to Zeinab Jalalian, despite her family’s depositing of a bail bond.
Media have cited Ali Jalalian as saying that she is suffering from intestinal complications and heart problems. Jalalian family deposited one billion tomans for her bail bond despite difficulties but the MOIS is handling the case of Zeinab Jalalian and refuses to accept the bail.
Mr. Jalalian said his daughter has been in jail for 12 years and their inquiries to get her released temporarily for medical treatment have gotten nowhere. Even in recent weeks, when Zeinab Jalalian’s brother passed away, they did not allow her to attend his funeral.
In a call for urgent action on June 15, 2018, Amnesty International said Zeinab Jalalian is being subjected to torture by blocking her access to medical care.
Zeinab Jalalian, was arrested in 2007 and has been held in Khoi Prison in West Azerbaijan Province since 2008.
The Iranian authorities have subjected Jalalian to extensive torture since her arrest. She was kept in solitary confinement, brutally beaten while blindfolded, threatened with rape, hit on the soles of her feet, and thrown so violently against a wall that she suffered a brain hemorrhage near her eyes.
She has several medical conditions, including heart, intestinal, and kidney problems, as well as an oral thrush or candidiasis that has caused painful white bumps on her tongue and interferes with her ability to eat and swallow. She also suffered from a severe dental infection.
Zeinab Jalalian is at risk of losing her eyesight in prison as she is being denied surgery for a worsening eye condition called pterygium, which is impairing her vision and causing her severe discomfort.
The right side of her body is numb, the reason for which remains unknown, as she has not received any diagnostic tests.
Additionally, she is experiencing dips and spikes in her blood pressure, which the prison doctor has said is linked to the stress and psychological pressure she is under.
